Archive for June, 2009
A sticky situation
Posted by Anastasia de Waal in Education, Health on 19/06/2009
“Health and safety gone mad!” is a cry oft uttered by grumpy ranters; harking back to the good old days, they remember when children boldly scaled the lofty heights of the school oak tree, experimented with explosive chemicals in the lab, and roamed forests without any sign of parental permission slips and supplementary adult protection.
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Failing to Figure
Posted by James Gubb in Economics, Health on 18/06/2009
On the Daily Telegraph’s blog, Richard Preston writes about Civitas’ latest publication, Failing to Figure by Mervyn Stone, emeritus professor of statistics at UCL. Half-way through, Preston makes the wry observation:
‘His biggest case study is the immensely complicated, deceitful and deluded means by which the formula was arrived at that determines how much of the NHS budget goes to each of the 152 primary care trusts in England. It’s almost proof of his case that you need to be a professional statistician to follow his argument: the chances of politicians understanding the formula, and therefore assessing whether it was fair, were virtually nil.’
True, it’s complicated. But here’s something of an idiots’ guide (something also that Nigel Hawkes has written about in a typically eloquent way in the British Medical Journal):
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The undoing of the pragmatic President?
Posted by Claire Daley in European Union on 17/06/2009
At tomorrow’s European Union summit, Heads of State and Government from the EU’s 27 member states are likely to back the incumbent EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso for another 5 year term, writes Luke Clark. Barroso will then need to be endorsed by the European Parliament (EP). This will be more problematic…
Labour’s New Election Battle-Cry: ‘Educashin, Educashin, Educashin’
Posted by David Conway in Education, Uncategorized on 16/06/2009
How bold must New Labour have seemed to itself in 2001, when it re-branded the Department of Education the Department for Education and Skills. And again, in 2007, when it reconfigured the DfES and the DTI into three new departments: one for Children, Skills and Families (DCSF), a second for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and a third for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). The second departmental reorganisation was a veritable job-creation scheme in itself!
New Man About Town
Posted by Laura Brereton in Health on 15/06/2009
By Lara Sonola
Some might call it a poisoned chalice, or instead, a great opportunity for an up-and-coming young minister to make his mark in a challenging department. Either way the approaching years, (or year) depending on your political outlook, will be very challenging for Andy Burnham, the new Secretary of State for Health. Read the rest of this entry »
The reign of the candy cane
Posted by Anastasia de Waal in Education on 12/06/2009
Entrepreneurial, or dangerous? Creative, or subversive? This week it was disclosed that staff at a top Merseyside grammar school, St Anselm’s College in Birkenhead, have successfully foiled a plot designed to break Jamie Oliver’s heart: sweet racketeering.